The prosperous port suddenly went into depression, and a new Viking trading city that was expected to replace Hedeby turned into a battlefield overnight.
The Russian army's beach landing seemed exciting to Rurik, but it was also quite boring when you think about it.
"Victory comes so easily? They probably have a trap. There is no need to rush, I will hold steady on the beach first." With this attitude, he boarded the capital of the King of Denmark.
A new seaport, even the thatched houses near the bay are quite new. The residents here ran away cleanly, and they fled in a very hasty manner. After a brief inspection, Rurik confirmed that there were no traces of an orderly evacuation in the houses.
All the buildings are quite messy. This must be the result of violent searches by the first wave of soldiers who landed. Did they find a lot of treasures by rummaging through boxes and cabinets? Maybe.
Rurik had no intention of delving into the outcome. It happened that his cousin Arik came to report on his work, and he asked about it by the way.
"I noticed that you were searching the house to see if there was any ambush. You were very thorough in your inspection, and it seems you gained something."
"Are you asking how many silver coins the brothers found?" Arik smiled naively.
"How about it, everyone got rich?"
"It's not ideal." Arik shrugged. Under the setting sun, his sharp eyes were directed towards the wooden fortress on the stone hill. He held two swords and pointed them directly: "Obviously, the most treasures are there. That is a fortress.
We have to perform a feint attack!"
"Indeed." Rurik also raised his head: "If our army does not operate properly, it will suffer undue losses. How about it? Will there be casualties in the first attacking force? Can you survive the ambush when searching the house?"
"There are not even any wounded. The brothers killed the enemy's wounded soldiers, and then everyone was busy looting. The Danes are weaker than we thought, and you definitely don't have to worry about the losses in the subsequent siege battles."
Rurik nodded and whispered softly: "It would be nice if you left a few alive."
"Oh? Brother, I heard what you said. Stay alive? Is it still necessary now?"
"At least you can know the inside story of the enemy, how many troops they have, and whether the King of Denmark himself is present."
"This is not a problem. It seems to me that you plan to launch the main attack tomorrow. We'd better prepare quickly. While the morale of the brothers is up, we can attack and seize the city in one fell swoop tomorrow."
Rurik was deeply impressed.
The battle seemed to be a draw, with the Russian army having the advantage.
The beach was cleaned up a little, and the soldiers who landed set up defensive positions under Rurik's instructions. The carts and torsion slingshots transported by the ship were assembled on the coast and became a kind of mobile heavy firepower. The captured wooden boards, boxes and small
The carts were pieced together to form a low parapet barrier, where the torsion slingshots carried by the carts were placed. Five slingshots formed a shooting position, and the cast iron projectiles were installed in the slide first, but the ropes were not charged.
Even the army's campsites are very particular. Although the army can directly seize the buildings left by the enemy, considering the enemy's possible night attack, this should not be done.
Many Russian generals felt that it was nonsense for the Kingdom of Denmark to launch a night attack war. If they did, they would be seeking death. Smart people would never do such a thing.
What if they think they can do it again?
"You all should learn from this! This is a battle in the enemy's territory. We are all outsiders. We must believe that the enemy has the will to defend the territory. I would rather you treat them as the most ferocious enemy than suffer losses by underestimating the enemy.
I want a sure victory and strictly follow my requirements!"
Rurik's attitude was decisive, and his subordinates felt that the subsequent arrangements were a bit redundant, so they could only follow them.
Ropes were tied around wooden pillars, or double-edged forest axes were used to chop directly, or even two people worked with saws. The fishermen's thatched houses near the shore were destroyed on a large scale, and a large number of buildings collapsed at the same time. This made it difficult for those watching on the wooden walls of the fortress in the distance
The Danish army was greatly shocked. What were the Russians doing when they landed? Could they be demolishing houses?!
The Danish soldiers had been on alert. They saw the collapse of civilian houses, a large number of bonfires on the coast, and an ominous but overwhelming number of landing regiments crawling under the sunset. The soldiers informed the troubled Danish King Horik that the news
He frowned and asserted to his generals: "The Russians will definitely fight us, and this battle will definitely come towards me."
A young general stood up and said: "King, maybe we should send an envoy. Even if we can't persuade them to get away, we can delay time. As long as our reinforcements arrive, everything will be fine."
Horik had no such intention, but someone suddenly mentioned it. After thinking about it, he felt that it was constructive.
He glanced at the other subordinates, and those he looked at had expressions of embarrassment on their faces, and some even retreated unconsciously.
"What's going on? I feel like there's someone scared in this house."
One general said bluntly: "We never get to the point of negotiating with them. Besides, if we shoot the envoy, look at the current situation, they will kill the envoy. If I were the invader, I would refuse to negotiate because I have the advantage. I
If the Russians decide to refuse to negotiate, we will definitely fight."
"But Rasmussen said we could do it."
"It was his suggestion, let him negotiate with the Russians!" the general said. After speaking, everyone looked at the previous speaker, Rasmussen.
"That's fine." Horik looked at his war chief: "You were brave in Flanders, and you will still be brave now. I want you to inquire about the situation of the Rus people and inform them that my king is in the city.
"That's right, Horik cleared his throat deliberately: "You must persuade the Russians to attack. I want their corpses to be filled under the wooden wall."
What else could Rasmussen do? He didn't dare to show his nervousness, but the words that the king wanted to tell him would definitely anger the Russians and cause his head to be chopped off. But he had no choice but to go, and no one at the scene said it.
Say a nice word for yourself.
"Okay! Everyone is destined to die. If I die, you must defeat the Russians and make my death worthwhile."
"You are a real man! I wish I could lead the cavalry to break through the door myself, but I am the king, and for the sake of the overall situation, I should not do this. You go, and if anything happens, I will take good care of your wife." Horik's words
His words were sanctimonious, but his past deeds were well known to everyone. This man was very kind to his close associates, and he took great care of his widow.
Just when the Danish king and his ministers held an emergency military meeting, the Russians on the beach made the battle bigger and bigger.
After counting the corpses, the Russian army found as many as fifty horse corpses, and naturally there were also fifty corresponding cavalry corpses.
Based on the condition of the corpse, Rurik obtained important information - these Danes were elites, and their riders and horses all wore armor inlaid with patches!
This situation is exactly the same as the situation of the Frank cavalry reported by Ragnar and Arik last year. Rurik also had to estimate that there might be a Frank army in this city, or a Frankish Danish army.
The Russian army built an arc-shaped defense line along the beach, and as many as 1,500 combat soldiers landed. Soldiers holding crossbows and bows were divided into large groups, relying on torsion slingshot positions to lay out in groups. The outer defense of the army
It is pieced together from these defense units, so there are a large number of passages in the middle for subsequent infantry with shields to maneuver out to build a traditional shield wall.
Hundreds of other people were staying on board. The Ross Navy immediately began to screen the captured ships. Small fishing boats were directly scuttled with axes, or hauled to the beach and chopped into pieces for firewood. As for the large number of larger rowing long boats,
Just take it away.
Now, the "Royal Shipbuilding Workshop" built by the Danish King is completely occupied by the Russian army. Rurik learned that the Danes were manufacturing cargo ships in large wooden workshops, and he and everyone else did not care. This is not from arrogance, but from everyone.
Qing Yi felt that this was an ordinary cargo ship building workshop. Not only did it have nothing to do with military ships, but these so-called large cargo ships were already outdated garbage in the eyes of the Russian army.
What the Russians regard as rubbish is treasure to the Danes.
What Rurik ordered was deliberate destruction. The usable cargo ships were naturally pulled away. Later, ropes could be used to connect to the Ross ship. Those half-built ships were directly set on fire!
A torch suddenly appeared, and the flames burned brighter and brighter!
The Danish soldiers who were following us hurriedly reported: "King! The Russians not only seized our shipbuilding workshop, they also set it on fire!"
"Ah?!" Horik, who was already suffering from a headache, was furious. He even suspected that he had asked General Rasmussen to negotiate in vain.
He walked out of his palace and stood outdoors to see the red firelight in the direction of the shipbuilding workshop. The low clouds in the sky in that direction were burned red...
"Damn the Russians! Do they already know my plan?!"
At this moment, the guards were all silent.
When Horik climbed onto the wooden wall, he smelled a strong smell of burning in the air, mixed with a faint smell of barbecue. The fire in the shipbuilding workshop was definitely just the beginning. If the Russians wanted to, they could set fire to it.
The material reserves in the inner city were quite sufficient, and Horik was not afraid of the siege by the Russian army. He was so angry that he wanted to lead his brothers to open the city gate and rush over directly, relying on his bravery to kill the Russian camp.
But the low brightness at night forced him to give up this idea. If he thought about it more carefully, the brothers really rushed to the beach, fearing that they would be hit by arrows fired by the anchored ships again.
Horik decided to be a turtle for the time being, even though he thought it was too cowardly.
There were several large fires in Godfreyhagen, a deliberate act following Rurik's orders. Buildings considered to be of great value had to be burned, even if it might have been just a spare warehouse.
The war horse was decomposed, and the rough horse meat was dripping with blood. The taste was a little fishy. As long as you sprinkled a lot of salt and dried it enough, it was still edible.
Those armed slave warriors were the least picky. After they were authorized to cut the horse meat freely, everyone cut off a large piece for a full meal.
When it comes to food and storage, Rurik, who attaches great importance to logistics, will never treat his soldiers badly.
The only people who were ordered to deliberately set fires were Rurik's mercenary guards. After carefully leaving the seaside camp, they also took tinder and bags of saltpeter to efficiently create a bonfire array.
Firewood was taken from the enemy's houses, and the wood and thatch were piled together to make a bonfire.
From the perspective of the Kingdom of Denmark, the number of Russian troops was unfathomable. The bonfire first started in the camp by the sea, and then the light quickly spread to both wings.
The person who carried out Rurik's order was the Dane Grund, but even though they were all Danes, he was too lazy to care about the people in the city because he was his master.
They groped cautiously, setting fires and conducting reconnaissance at the same time. Once they found signs of the enemy's night attack, they ran away.
Setting large-scale bonfires to create suspicion may seem like an ordinary tactic, but it is actually a kind of "black technology." The Frankish Kingdom and even the former Emperor Charlemagne had never done this. Perhaps the ancient Roman legions would use this strategy.
, but the Danish, Frankish and British kingdoms of this era don't understand. Just setting up a camp can become part of the tactics? Naturally, the Danish King Horik also doesn't understand.
How did the Russians transport such an amazing number of troops? Horik didn't believe it, but the dense bonfires outside the city were a fact.
The soldiers were talking a lot. They could guess that there would be a decisive battle in the next one to two days. The soldiers were busy replenishing supplies and polishing spearheads. After learning the news that "we are besieged by the enemy" from the brothers at the top of the city, they did not want to eat bread after that.
Especially the infantry soldiers. When they were mobilized, they didn't know how many ships the Russians had arrived. Now in the darkness, they can't see clearly the actual strength of the enemy.
The only thing visible was the bonfire array that surrounded half of the city. There must have been thousands of people eating grilled fish around the bonfire, right? Some even pessimistically estimated that the Russian army had arrived at 10,000 people.
Faced with this situation, General Rasmussen, who had already had the guts to "talk things out", gave up. He had to go there in person, and took two of his confidants to wade into the muddy waters with him.
The rope was lowered, and the three people descended along it, walking cautiously along the bumpy alley.
The population of Godfreyhagen is not large at all, so the three of them walked a short distance and were already very close to the beach.
The attack came at once, and the crossbow-wielding security skirmishers who were placed at the outermost edge of the camp by Rurik, who were hiding in residential buildings with horns and small leather drums, captured him with axes and swords.
The three of them were taken directly to the camp. The skirmishers went around saying that they had done a great job in catching the prisoners. After hearing the good news, soldiers carrying grilled fish skewers and roasted horse meat gathered around them.
Everyone gathered around to look at the poor captives, laughing at their unfortunate appearance sitting on the ground as much as they could.
"Stop watching, get out of the way!" Arik shouted loudly, and he took action himself to make the onlookers clear a way.
After hearing the news, Rurik followed closely. He was quite happy that his men had captured the prisoners.
However, after some inquiries, it was discovered that a Danish war chief who called himself Rasmussen came in person to explain the attitude of Danish King Horik.
"Horik?!" Ragnar, who was accompanying Rurik, could no longer hold back. "Hey boy! Do you recognize my face? The leader of the Stonewall Tribe! Me! Ragnar Sigurdsson."
"You?! I..." Rasmussen thought carefully, and regardless of the vague memory, he said bluntly: "I recognize you, and I later learned your name. Ragnar the Pants."
"You are so courageous that you dare to come to our camp. If you want to die, I will help you die." After saying that, Ragnar had already pulled out his ordered Ross steel sword with a cold light. After all, he was not actually
I like this unsightly nickname.
Rurik hurriedly pulled the impatient guy: "Wait a minute! If the two armies are fighting and don't kill the envoy, I don't want to kill him."
"There is no need to keep it." Ragnar sheathed the sword angrily.
This is not a good place for a detailed discussion. Seeing that poor Rasmussen's hands were tied, he almost untied them and dragged him to the campfire where he was resting. Rurik first revealed his identity, it was Ross.
The prince himself. The purpose of the war he mentioned made Rasmussen take a breath - the Rus army came to demand the head of King Horik.
Rurik did not kill the envoy during the battle between the two armies, but the only one he did not kill was the envoy himself.
In front of the messenger Rasmussen, Rurik signaled Ragnar to immediately launch revenge. The steel sword stabbed two followers to death, and their heads were chopped off by Ragnar with the hand ax on his waist.
He stabbed it on a sharpened wooden stick and punched it on the ground amidst the cheers of many soldiers.
They were all Vikings, and doing this kind of thing was in line with "battlefield etiquette." Although Rasmussen would not be frightened and fainted, he also estimated that the Russians would definitely not give the Kingdom of Denmark any room to make concessions.
But he still had to do what the king told him. Rasmussen actually felt that he had a chance to rush forward and kill the young king of the Rus. However, it seemed that this young man was also a powerful warrior in his own right. Many of his warriors wore
He didn't bother to wear a bear skin, even a helmet, and put on the terrifying bear jaws. All his weapons were confiscated, and he was monitored by a group of Rus warriors with his bare hands.
He had to explain King Horik's request. The so-called "request" really surprised Rurik.
"Hahaha, I thought that man would give me a lot of treasures and slaves to appease my army and bribe me to withdraw my army? So that's not the case? The short, fat, round-faced man begged me to attack his city. He was
Think his wooden wall can withstand our army's offensive? How confident is he?"
After Rurik finished speaking, everyone present laughed heartily.
Rasmussen said frankly: "We have three thousand troops. If you attack, you will be seeking death. Although your arrows are strong, if the two armies are really fighting, our Danish army has a huge advantage."
"There are actually three thousand people?" Rurik still looked arrogant, but he had to be cautious in his heart.
"Indeed. My king is not afraid of you."
"Then let him bring out the army and we will fight outside the city."
"But there is no honor in your fighting methods! Real Odin's warriors must fight with dignity, with axes and swords, and even with fists. Killing people with arrows is an insult to a warrior." Rasmussen
Well-spoken words.
Rurik shrugged. What this man said was indeed part of the warrior culture, but it was not accepted by everyone.
"An upright battle." Rurik secretly smiled again, "I think there is no need for us to continue talking. I noticed that when you planned to use cavalry to overwhelm our army, you were not upright. For you like this, I
It makes sense to shoot with a lot of arrows. I won't kill you, you go back! Go and tell your king what you saw and heard."
Rasmussen, who thought he was going to be killed, was suddenly startled: "You want to let me go?"
"It's easy to kill you, but no one informed your master about the attitude of the Russian army. He wants to defend the city and wants me to attack the city? Okay! You just wait here for a while, I want to write a letter to your king.
.”
A moment later, a document written on hard paper was folded and stuffed into Rasmussen's hand. He was not aware of the wonder of the paper, but only noticed the important information written in traditional rune script on it.
The letter is actually a short sentence: "Foolish false king Horik, you cannot defend Godfrehagen. Prince Rus' Rurik Ottoson will launch an attack after dawn. Tomorrow evening, I will use your
The skull as a new wine cup.”
Rasmussen got the letter and ran away. The soldier who planned to shoot an arrow in the back was stopped by Rurik.
"Brothers, let him go back and report the news! Let's all prepare well and have a good sleep. Tomorrow we will attack with all our strength and burn the city down after robbing the treasures!"
The soldiers shouted one after another, which in turn triggered the Viking war cry from the entire camp.
In the eyes of the Danish army, this is a precursor to an attack!